Author's Note: Chapter 2 everybody! This time with names!
Nick's Advice.
"Oh my baby!" Martha rushed to her youngest son, covering his freckled cheeks in kisses. "I was so worried about you! I thought they had let you out past the wall!" She held her baby boy close.
"Ma, I'm okay." John sniffed, his eyes still red from his near tears.
"What's wrong? Did you get hurt? Patrick what happened?" She checked him all over for bruises, frantically adjusting his hair.
"Nothin'...we just had a talk was all…" Patrick trailed off, scratching his chin.
"Did he yell at you?" Martha cupped John's face.
"No-well...w-we both yelled…" John pushed his mother's hand away, he didn't want to talk about this. He just wanted to forget it and go to bed.
"John-" Martha began.
"I'm fine." He interrupted quickly.
"John, you don't have to-" Martha tried again.
"Martha, the boy said he was fine." Patrick encouraged her to leave their son be, getting irritated by Martha's constant interrogation of John. "Guy, go set the table for dinner, John set out the dinner." Patrick gestured towards the kitchen. Both boys went into the kitchen to carry out what their father demanded.
"You know why mom treats you like a baby?" Guy asked as he placed the plates on the table.
"Hm?" John humored him with an answer.
"Because you act like a baby." Guy sneered, his laugh being cut off by a punch to the arm.
Guy clenched his jaw, looking up from where he had been setting the forks and knives beside the plates. He let them clatter to the floor from his fist as he snatched John's wrist, pulling him off his feet and into a headlock, twisting his arm painfully.
"Say uncle! Say it!" He demanded.
"No!" John shouted defiantly, writhing and thrashing in his older brother's grip.
"Say it an' I'll let ya go, brat!" Guy pulled harder, ripping John's sleeve.
"Guy, stop it!" He begged, losing the strength to fight back.
"Say it!" Guy shouted.
"Uncle! Uncle!" John gave in as he fell to the floor.
Martha and Patrick came in to see John gasping for air on the floor and Guy having grip marks on his arm from where John had tried to pry his arm away from his neck. John got up and rubbed his neck, trying to lose the red in his cheeks.
"Guy, room." Martha demanded.
"Ma, we were just messin' around!" He protested his punishment.
"Guy. Room." She pointed toward his room.
"Fine." He huffed and went to his and John's room, slamming the door.
Martha held John close,fretting over him and making sure he was okay. If you took a room full of worried mothers, it wouldn't compare to the hysterical worrying of Martha McDonough.
"Are you okay baby? Did he hurt you?"
"Ma I'm okay…" He repeated.
"John you were on the-"
"Ma. I am okay." He walked off and sat at the table.
After a dinner of Martha trying to get John to speak, John went to his and Guy's shared room. Guy had marked his side of the room from John's with white paint. John's side had pictures of boats that his mother had painted along with some books, the occasional baseball along with some other things. Guy's side had parts of old pre-war machines, robot models, history books along with some holotapes. John tried not to wake Guy, but he wasn't even really asleep. The floor creaked under John's shoes, making Guy turn over.
"You think you're so special don't you? Because mom comes to save you every time?" Guy said as he sat up, an ominous tone in his voice.
"Look that's not-"
"Not your choice. I know but don't give me that crap this time!" Guy shouted.
"Everything's always been handed to you because you're the baby! Everything! You don't have to work! You don't have to go to school if you don't want to! You just walk around knowing you will NEVER get in trouble! Dad never even grounds you anymore John! One day the world is gonna hit you like a sack of bricks and you're gonna be alone! Probably out somewhere addicted to Jet and not knowing how to even start a fire!" Guy's face was red with rage as he ranted about John.
John turned and walked out, his face red with some kind of embarrassment. Tears bubbled up in his eyes.
"John?" Martha asked,standing up from her chair. She was worried as always.
"'M goin' out." John said, pulling on his jacket.
"It's raining." Patrick pointed out as his son walked out.
"I'll be back soon." John snapped as he slammed the door.
John trudged over to Nick's. Nick opened the door and sighed when he saw the teenager.
"C'mon in kid." He ushered him into the back alley shack. Nick sat him down as he got back to work on a radio he was fixing for Travis. John sat in silence for a few minutes, not knowing how to word this properly.
"...Kid you gonna-"
"Guy is just a huge douche bag!" John interrupted quite loudly.
"Okay what'd he do this time?" Nick asked with a knowing face.
"He goes and snitches on me for gettin' on Ann Codman's roof! T-then he headlocks me and tries to choke me out! Then h-he rants about how I'm just gonna be a failure in life!" John blathered out as he made wild hand motions. He knocked off Nicks wrench.
"I-I'm sorry…" He picked it up and handed it to Nick as he trailed off.
"It's okay John, I understand." Nick said calmly.
"How can you? You're a robot, you don't have a brother." John said, crossing his arms.
" One. I'm a Synth, not a sentry or an assaultron. Two. You're like a little brother to me." Nick smiled.
"Yeah I guess. You're a better brother than Guy by a mile." John smiled back.
"Now don't say that. You know somewhere deep down you love Guy." Nick encouraged.
"I'd love him better with a Swatter to his knee." John laughed.
"John. Think real hard. If you woke up and Guy was gone, no trace of where he went, or what happened, how would you feel? No one to confide in without judgement, no one to goof off with. The one friend you thought would always be around, gone. How would you feel?" Nick turned his whole chair towards the boy.
"...I'd have you." John said simply. Nick looked surprised.
"Well John-"
"You're kinda like my brother. You're nicer than Guy. You let me help you, you don't hit me, you don't throw rotten tato's at me. You're just a much better person Nick." He looked up at Nick.
"John I...I can't just-" He was interrupted by John hugging him. Nick sighed before patting his back.
Nick would find that it would be a long time for John to come to his senses about his brother. A very long time.
